An Ohio mother has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the murder of her 16-month-old daughter, who prosecutors assert was left unattended at home in a playpen while the mother vacationed in Detroit and Puerto Rico.
According to court documents, Kristel Candelario, 32, left her 16-month-old daughter unattended in a playpen for 10 days while she went on vacation in June 2023. Candelario returned to find her daughter not breathing. Emergency responders discovered the child extremely dehydrated and pronounced her dead. The autopsy revealed the toddler died from starvation and severe dehydration.
Candelario, who faced life imprisonment with no chance of parole, expressed remorse and cited her struggles with depression and mental health issues.
“There’s so much pain that I have in regards to the loss of my baby, Jailyn,” she said. “I’m extremely hurt about everything that happened. I am not trying to justify my actions, but nobody knew how much I was suffering and what I was going through … God and my daughter have forgiven me.”
The judge condemned her actions as the “ultimate betrayal” and sentenced her accordingly. Despite her remorse, the judge emphasized the severity of her negligence, equating her punishment to the imprisonment she imposed on her daughter.
“Just as you didn’t let Jailyn out of her confinement, so too you should spend the rest of your life in a cell without freedom,” the judge said, according to ABC News. “The only difference will be, the prison will at least feed you and give you liquid that you denied her.”
